Cleveland Indians: 3 takeaways from the 10-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs

The Cleveland Indians didn’t give the home fans much to cheer about in the 2016 World Series rematch against the Chicago Cubs.

The Cleveland Indians playing the Chicago Cubs in 2018 had the potential to be a big series. Instead, the first meeting between the teams came on a Tuesday on a rainy day in April.

The Indians also got smoked in this first meeting by the score of 10-3. Josh Tomlin got shelled and there was a handful of fans who actually stuck around until the end.

This was only the first of four meetings between the clubs this year, with the second coming Wednesday night. Hopefully the Indians give fans a better result.

Let’s look at some takeaways from what was not exactly a fun game to watch, especially with all those World Series highlights. Thanks for the memories, STO.

Not a great outing for Tomlin

Josh Tomlin gave up four home runs in a game. Sound familiar? It was the second time he has done that this season, with the first occasion coming out in Los Angeles against Shohei Ohtani and the Angels.

Two bad starts for Tomlin in April may not be enough for him to lose his spot in the rotation with Terry Francona as his manager, but if Danny Salazar is returning soon that means Tomlin may be on the shortest of leashes.

The four home runs he gave up tonight were all solo shots, but that happening twice in one month isn’t great when projecting what he may do over an entire season.

Solid nights for Zimmer and Ramirez

If fans are looking for positives from this one, both Bradley Zimmer and Jose Ramirez had three hits. Hooray!

Jose has now raised his average up to .266 after he began the year hovering around the sub-.100 mark. With all the inconsistencies on offense, it is nice to see him heating up. The same goes for Zimmer who is now batting .271 on the year.

Some odd scheduling

No better way to diminish a potential big rematch than to play this game on a Tuesday in April. I may be overreacting, but this is another example of the league failing to play up its big storylines. Well, unless it involves the Yankees and Red Sox.

Next: Cleveland Indians sign OF Melky Cabrera to minors deal

There is a lot that goes into scheduling but this should have been a prime weekend series. Rant over. Let’s hope for a better result on Wednesday.